Your correspondent maintains an active interest in things nautical, particularly the 18th-19th century Age of Fighting Sail. But being located so far inland—in the midst of a vast metropolis that prefers to forget its own centuries-long heritage—does have its disadvantages.

Through the magic of teh intarwebs, however, I have discovered a group of people in our own New Scotland (Nova Scotia) who also have an abiding interest in that era of naval derring-do. Their blog, Man the Capstan, is a mix of practical advice for period re-enactors leavened with the occasional post about the personalities, events or practices of the time. The crew’s Flickr collections also do an admirable job of chronicling the effort of keeping the past alive in the modern era.